After dropping the first set of their region tournament match against Breckinridge County due to a plethora of errors, the Owensboro seniors took it upon themselves to make sure the team cleaned up their play if they wanted to keep their season alive.
“We’re seniors, so this could have been the last time we ever played, and we didn’t want to go out with a loss,” Addie Travis said.
The encouragement worked, as the Lady Devils won the next three sets to win the match 3-1 (16-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-15) and advance to the semifinals set for Wednesday night.
Tied early in the first set, the Lady Tigers pulled away and never relinquished the lead, capitalizing off of a series of Owensboro errors. In the second set, Owensboro led late 19-15, before Breckinridge went on a 9-5 run to tie the set at 24-24. Unfazed, the Lady Devils scored the next two points to tie the match.
The third similarly was neck-and-neck the entire way, but having found their stride, Owensboro was able to close it out. The Lady Devils jumped out to an early lead in the fourth set – energizing their fan section. Feeding off of the energy, Owensboro quickly ran away with the set to close out the match.
Travis led the Lady Devils with 15 kills, 14 digs, and four blocks. Senior Ava Fincher added 15 kills, 15 assists, 15 digs, and one block. Anna Travis and Rose Larsen led the team in assists and digs with 26 and 18.
“I am very proud of our girls,” Owensboro head coach Melissa Hibbs said. “There were a lot of times we could have laid down and died. Breckinridge is tough. They covered the court, they swung aggressively, and they served us very hard and very aggressively. But our girls kept fighting and playing with heart. We talk about how the postseason is just surviving, and that’s what we did tonight. Just survive against a very tough team, and I am so proud of them.”
